Almost one in two Chinese people now has a mobile phone, while the number of fixed-line subscribers has fallen, according to a media report in China yesterday.

 

The report quoting the Ministry of Information Industry figures that China's mobile phone accounts has risen more than 8 percent since the start of the year to 592 million.

The number of mobile phone accounts in the world's biggest population of mobile phone users grew by 44.8 million through the end of May, reported Xinhua News Agency. It said the number of fixed-line accounts fell by 6.5 million to 358 million.

The Xinhua report said the biggest factor behind the growth was a trend for operators to cut fees in order to gain market share.

The Information Ministry, last month said that it plans to reduce the number of telecom companies to three as it seeks to bring back balance to the telecommunication industry.

Under the government's proposal, the restructuring would result in three groups of telecom giants-China Mobile and fixed-line carriers China Telecom and China Netcom.

The Chinese Government plans to awards 3G licenses after the restructuring is completed which is expected to take place by the end of this year.